"Hailey, hurry up. We're going to be late." Opening the back door, Eva booted three hyper puppies, chased by a full-sized Labrador, out into the yard. Why the hell had she agreed to watch LeBron while Marshall was out of town? As if she did have her hands full enough as is, she had to go and add an overgrown spastic ball of energy to the list.

At least the pups liked him, she thought, shutting the door behind him. The morning walk had been...interesting, with LeBron heading the pack both Skittles and Wiggles couldn't get enough, leaping and bounding all over him. LeBron behaved every bit as foolishly, running around in whipping circles that forced Eva to uncouple his lead or risk a horrible case of whiplash just trying to keep up.

Short attention span aside, he really was a good dog. Highly intuitive, and quick to respond when Lucy had tripped the other day, scraping her knee. What would have usually been a fit of ear-piercing shrieks and fat, rolling tears quickly melded into side-splitting giggles as he comforted her.

The act alone had been enough to make Eva overlook waking up to the slobbery, shredded mess that had once been a pair of particularly comfortable tennis sneakers. Thankfully Marshall was due back tomorrow.

"Mom, I can't find it." Hailey bounded down the stairs, pushing dark hair behind her ears.

"What, Hail? What can't you find?" Eva asked blowing a fringe of bangs of her eyes. Dammit, she'd been so caught up the last little while she'd neglected to cut it off and now it tickled the back of her neck and ears. At this rate, it would be down to her shoulders before summer's end. Every time Eva looked in the mirror, she was confronted with the ghost of Annelise, and didn't particularly care for it.

Annelise was gone. Finished. And good riddance. She was stronger as Eva. More capable and confident. She liked Eva. There was no going back...

"My permission form. I can't--" Words dying on her tongue, Hailey's eye widened. "Nevermind."

"Permission form?"

"Nothing."

"Hail." Draping the dogs' leads over the newel post, Eva arched a brow. "Spill, young lady. What's going on?"

Almost eye level with her mother, huffing a despondent breath, Hailey bounced a sneakered toe on the step. "Just some stupid form for the play."

"What's it for?"

"Just to say we're allowed to perform. As the principle cast."

"Hailey," Eva's smile spread, " are you telling me you got the lead?" Now a smile tugged at Hailey's mouth, and a gleam reached her eyes. A gleam that was all pride and accomplishment wrapped up in giddy excitement.

"Well...yeah."

Letting out a whoop, Eva scooped her from the stairs in a dizzying spin and for a second, as Hailey's head fell back with a laugh, the two of them were transported far away, to happier times. Simpler times. Where none of the harshness of reality could touch them.

"Oh baby," Eva snuggled in close, arms tight around her firstborn, her special little girl. "I am so proud of you. So happy for you." Setting her down, she smoothed a hand over Hailey's shirt, brushing away the creases as she lowered to her haunches. I will not cry, Eva vowed. I will not be that mom. I will not embarrass her.

"I didn't want to say anything," she said, chewing her bottom lip. "Not right away, at least. In case you said...I couldn't."

"Why would I do that?"

Hailey lifted a shoulder, her gaze flitting to and away from Eva's.

"Baby." Sighing, she took Hailey's hands, kissed them both, and squeezed. "I know it hasn't been easy. And I know I've asked a lot from you, from all of you, but you most of all."

"Mom..."

"Let me finish. I meant what I said to you all those years ago. Do you remember?"

Hailey nodded. "You said you would do anything for us. No matter what."

"No matter what." Eva echoed. "I told you when we got the okay and moved here that this was home. I would make this home. I'm doing that for us, Hail. It doesn't mean we can get sloppy, or careless. It'll never be like it was before. I'm sorry but it won't. That's the truth."

Hailey's mouth thinned. "I know."

"Come on." Eva rose, wiggled their joined hands. "Acting class starts in ten minutes and the leading lady is going to be late if we don't get a move on." 

#

Corralling Payton and Lucy, Eva blazed to the Academy of Dramatic Arts with seconds to spare. Thankfully the summer camp program was held within the same building so she unloaded the girls and rushed through the main doors. 

"Tell Mrs. Singh you lost your form and bring home a new one tonight," Eva said, as Hailey scampered off.

Payton and Lucy in hand, Eva rushed to the other wing of the building. Having only missed the morning songs, she handed the girls over and, at long last, took a second to breathe. What a morning. The day had erupted in utter anarchy--as for the first time that Eva could ever recall, she'd overslept. Then between puppies and her girls, everything had been a panicked blur.

Aside from that little moment with Hailey. What had started as an extracurricular program had somehow blossomed into a passion. Every night, Eva watched with growing admiration how devoted and dedicated Hailey became, studying her lines, pouring herself into the pages of the play, even asking Eva for advice with understanding the characters and their emotional responses.

The drama school had become more than an emotional outlet, but a bridge joining mother and daughter together again. Eva would be forever grateful.

Outside the building, as she made her way towards the parking lot, she caught sight of pale gold hair caught in the breeze, a slender frame wrapped in a light summer sweater, because the day was overcast and chilly for late June.

Claire looked up, their eyes meeting and, smiling, Eva lifted a hand. Eyes, dull as the morning clouds lowered and she walked on, without so much as second backwards glance, through the cluster of moms gossiping in the lot. That was new, not that Eva could blame her. Not after months of doing the same, snubbing and shrugging Claire off like bad mood, where Claire had only ever tried to be kind and friendly.

You've been a real bitch, Eva thought. Guilt gnawing at her insides, she loped into a jog, called out her name.

Claire stopped, turned around as Eva caught her arm. "What do you want?"

Eva was about to answer when the large figure of Patricia Borden wrapped in tailored pastels intersected her path.

"Eva." Patricia's large eyes shone a little too bright for eight in the morning. "Ladies," she swung out a hand and a flock of them clustered around her like hens to feed, forcing Claire to the periphery. "We were just talking about you, weren't we ladies?" Collective murmurs of agreement echoed around her like noise pinging off stone walls.

"We'd like to ask you to join us this evening, Stacey's having a little gathering for the moms at her place this evening, aren't you Stacey?"

A plain-faced brunette wearing far too much makeup to compensate nodded vigorously.

"It's a thing we do every week, taking turns to host and we discuss important matters about the community and--"

"That's nice." Eva forced a smile. "But I was actually about to talk to Claire. We have plans this afternoon, don't we? With the kids?" Her eyes found Claire's, willed her to follow along. "I just wanted to confirm, was it your place again? Or mine this time?"

"Oh..." Blinking through her stunned disbelief, Claire managed to regain composure enough to pick up Eva's unexpected left curve. "Mine, I think. I took out some chicken last night for the barbecue..."

"Great. I was going to swing over to the market to grab us some wine. Let me know what else you'd like me to bring." While Claire blinked like a stunned owl, albeit a happy one, Patricia settled in closer, as did the rest of them, converging on her with a grave expression echoing among them.

"Eva, I understand you're...new to our community, and therefore its understandable if you're not fully apprised of certain...details. Now, don't get me wrong, Ms. Williows is lovely, truly," Patricia laid a hand, every finger bejeweled, over her sagging chest, "but you don't want to get mixed up with the likes of her. Trust me." 

No one seemed to give a damn that Claire was still within earshot, though too timid to speak up and defend herself. Slinking away, her expression, though it said she wasn't surprised, still held enough pain to break Eva's heart. Running a tongue along the edge of her teeth, she slid her gaze to the surrounding faces and sliced back to Patricia.

"That so?"

"Oh, yes." Patricia nodded gravely. "I'm not one to gossip, but that one's mired in trouble. From a tree of bad apples, if you catch my drift. Oh, she's lovely, I know. Takes after her mother, a beauty she was, too, for a half-breed. What she ever saw in the likes of that drunk, George Fitzgerald, I'll never know. No good ever came from mixing, so I say. Oil and water can only blend for so long before they invariably part ways."

"Mrs. Borden." Too disgusted for words, Eva couldn't stomach hearing another word. "I really must-"

"Oh, please call me Patricia-or Trish, all my friends call me Trish, don't they, ladies?" Another collection of voices rose in agreement from the mindless drones. "We are friends, aren't we Eva? I know we haven't had much opportunity to speak on occasions, but that can change, can't it? After all, you're Haven's hot commodity these days, with Marshall Davies drawing so much light on our illustrious little community. Putting us all on the map, as it were. And," proudly tossing back her shoulders, "as the most affluent members of Haven's society, it is our imperative duty to come together and ensure the best possible foot is presented. There's so much we can do for each other."

In the back of her mind, a memory echoed of a campaign poster pitched across residential lawns: Tyler Matthew Borden running for Mayor. Vote Borden to be the face and heart of Haven. And there, Eva realized, was the heart of Patricia Borden, laid bare. A grasping, scheming, conniving opportunist who only wanted to sink her claws into Eva's coattails and tag along for the ride.

Though the idea of punching the pompous woman in the nose itched in her fingers, tossing up her chin, Eva decided with a woman like this, words would draw a lot more blood.

"I'd rather chew on glass than sit around and spend another minute with the likes of you," she said. From her periphery, she saw Claire's slender frame pop straight and whip around. "That woman," Eva pointed at Claire, "is the kindest, most gentle soul and has more integrity in her little finger then the whole of you lot combined."

"Eva," Patricia's voice strained, "I think you've mistaken me entirely."  

"No, I don't think so. I think you've shown yourself for the bigoted coward you truly are and I have no interest of desire to waste another second of my time in your company." Side-stepping the stunned throng, Eva looped an arm around Claire's shoulder and smiled brightly in the face of Patricia's abhorrent shock, nostril's flaring like a donkey with a tugged tail.

"You're...you're making a huge mistake."

"Fuck off, Trish. And if I hear either you or your lackeys speaking badly about Claire again, it won't be my words flying your way, if you catch my drift."

As the flock of women folded around Patricia, clucking and muttering, Claire looked up at Eva, eyes soft as her smile.

"You didn't have to do that."

"Yes," Eva leaned into her with a hug, "I did."

"Are you really going to come over...with the kids?" In truth, there was a million things that Eva had planned to get done, things that had required attention, but something in the way Claire asked made Eva think of a kid afraid to hear that Santa Claus wasn't real. And Eva didn't have the heart to break hers.

"If you'll have us." Tears glistened in Claire's eyes. And as easy as that, Eva knew that she'd been forgiven.

"I'd like that."